Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $12.55 Million Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,839 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 464 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.9% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $12,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Apple by 127.4% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 209,327 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,895,000 after buying an additional 7,860 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,601,162 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $446,048,000 after buying an additional 568,771 shares during the last quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 45,004 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $7,717,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $868,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Moffett Nathanson lowered their price target on Apple from $211.00 to $202.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Maxim Group raised their target price on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total value of $945,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This represents a 6.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 408,170 shares of company stock valued at $92,007,745. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $232.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $228.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.64. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.45%.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.